Wind direction and velocity telemetering device



May 8, 1945. 2,375,227

WIND DIRECTION AND VELOCITY TELEMETERING DEVICE Filed Aug. 7, 1944 VERTICAL '1 -.AMPL|FIER HORIZONTAL FIG. 3. I U INVENTOR.

LEON 'HILLMAN I ATTORNEY me of any royalty Patented May b, 1945 wmn nmEc'rroN m mocr'r'r 'rntnmrrnnme nnvrcn Leon'lilillman, New York, N. Y. Application August 7, 1944, Serial No. 548,479

1 dGlaims. (01.73-18. 3) t (oi-amen under the act of March a, 1883, a

amended April30, 1928; 370

herein may be manuthe Government for The invention described factured and used'by or for governmental purposes, withoutthe payment tothereon.

pertains to telemetering devices for transmitting vectorial data, and is more particularly directed to the continuous transmission of wind direction and speed indications as obtained from standard meteorological instruments.

ihe motion of wind is a vector quantity having both magnitude and direction. For meteorological purposes, wind direction is commonly measured by wind vanes, while wind speed is dete'r mined by the use of anemometers. Since accuracy of measurement necessitates that these and elevated The present invention means are desirable for transmitting wind readings to points remote from said instruments.

. Accordingly, it is one of the principal objects of the present invention to prov do new and improved telemetric means for concurrently transmittingwind speed and direction indications.

It is another object of this invention to provide a ielemetric system which continuously transmits instantaneous values of wind speed and direction.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide telemetric means of the above type which is operable in conjunction with standard meteorological instruments An additional object of this invention is to provide an indicator in association with the above telemetric mean which affords a single direct reading of wind velocity without reference to :harts.

Another object of this invention is to provide elemetric means of the above type which require he use of relativel s of simple design and construction.

Broadly stated, the tclemetric system comprises goniometer, having a pair of crossed stator reps and a rotor loop, in association with a isual indicator in the form of a cathode ray scillograph. The rotor l mechanically coupled sposed wind vane. Applied to the rotor loop are nipolarity voltage pulses of fixed magnitude. he energy induced in each of the stator loops as a magnitude and polarity which is a function r the rotor orientation in respect thereto. The

spective outputs of the stators are fed to opwsing deflection plates lograph in a manner whereby the radial line pattern traced'on the screen thereof correspondsin positionto the orientation of the wind vane.

In the telemetric system above described, the unipolarity voltage pulses supplied to the rotor loop are secured from an alternating current generator whose output is half-wave rectified. Y In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, l0 anemom 15 traced thereon. Thus the 2 reference is had to the f wherein like parts are' y'few transmission wires and loop of the goniometer to and rotates with an oi the cathode ray econ- 5 the generator is operated by a rotation eter exposed to the wind; Consequently, the energy magnitude and frequency yielded by the generator is a function of wind speed. This effect is displayed on the screen of the oscillograph in terms of the length of the line pattern' angular disposition of, the screen line provides the wind direction and the extent of the line, the index to wind speed.

For a better understanding of the invention, together with other and further objects thereof, ollowing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, indicated by like reference numerals, and its scope will be pointed out in the accompanying claims. 7

In the accompanying drawing:

Figur l is a schematic diagram illustrating a telemetric system in accordance with the present invention for transmitting and indicating the orientation of a wind vane,

Figure 2A, B, C, and D shoW- four examples of the effect of diverse magnitudes and polarity of voltages applied to opposing deflection plates of a cathode ray oscilloscope on the electron beam trace,

of rotor I3 I 1 and by means of alternating current positioned as to impinge on polarities of the applied the applied voltages.

' spouses of a generator it through a half-wave rectifier 19, preferably of the copper oxide type. The voltage output wave of generator 18 is sinusoidal as shown by wave form 20, and after rectification it assumes the form of half-wave pulses as shown by form 21.

' As the orientation of the wind vane I is shifted by wind movement, the position of rotor l3 in respect to stators l5 and I6 is correspondingly altered. As is well known, maximum inductive coupling between rotor l3 and either stator I5 or 16 will occur when the rotor and a stator lie in the same plane. Inasmuch as stator loops i5 and 16 are mutually perpendicular, when the energy induced in one stator is at maximum, the

. energy in the other falls to zero. Where the rotor l3 lies in a plane common to neitherstator I5 I 'nor 16, the relative magnitude of energies induced in the stators depends upon their respective degree of deviation from the rotor plane. It

will also be evident that the polarity of energy shown by form 35 induced in the stator loops l5 and IE will reverse at 180 points in the angular movement of the rotor loop 13.

The terminals of stator loop are connected by means of an extended two wire line 22 to the input terminals of the vertical amplifier 23 of oscillograph M whereas the terminals of stator it are connected to the input terminals of the horizontal amplifier 24 through an extended two wire line 25. The output of amplifier 23 is connected to the vertical deflectionv plates of a cathode ray tube 26 while the output of amplifier 24 is connected to the horizontal deflection plates thereof. Amplifiers 23 and 24 are both adjusted to provide an equal measure of amplification. Initially, the cathode ray beam is'focussed and the central point of the screen. The voltage output of amplifiers 23 and 24 are in phase but vary in magnitude and in polarity in accordance with the voltages induced in loops I5 and I6. Thus the voltages applied to the deflection plates "of cathode ray tube 26 displace the electron beam in a direction and to an extent which is the vector sum of the applied voltages.

The effect of applying voltages of diverse magnitude and polarity to opposing deflection plates the rotor 32 in respect to an alternating current generator which provides pulses for the wind vanegoniometer. The rotation anemometer 30 is shown to be of the three cup type although any other suitable rotation anemometer such as the propeller or windmill type may be effectively employed in lieuthereof. The anemometer 30 is mechanically coupled to a shaft extending from the armature of an alternating current generator 31 of the type characterized by an output voltage and frequency substantially proportional to the angular speed of the armature. The output of generator 3| is impressed upon the rotor loop 320i a goniometer 33 through a halfwave rectifier 34. Thus, the energy applied to the rotor 32 assumes the shape of half-wavepulses, as

are a function of wind speed. Reversing the direction of rotation taken by anemometer 30 will displace the phase of the output of generator 3| by 180, but this efiect in no way influences the operation of the system.

Mechanically coupled to the rotor loop 32 is a wind vane 36 which determines the orientation of the stators 31 and 38. As hereinabove explained -in connection with Figure 1 the ratio of voltages between stator 31 and 38, as well as their polarities, depends upon the orientation of the rotor 32 as determined by the wind vane 35. However, since the voltage applied-to the rotor 32 is a function of wind speed, the magnitude of the stator output voltages will correspondingly vary although the ratio therebetween will remain undisturbed.

The output of stator loop 38 is fed through a two wire line 39 to the horizontal deflection terminals 40 of a cathode ray oscillograph 41 while the output of loop 31 is applied to the vertical of cathode ray tube 26 may be more clearly understood by referring to Figures 2A to D of the drawing depicting in four examples the vector resultant 21 as displayed on the screen when a voltage 28 is applied to the vertical deflection plates and a voltage 23 to the horizontal deflec tion plates. It will be seen that the quadrant wherein the vector falls is contingent upon'the voltages whereas the angular position of the vector 21 within the quadrant depends upon the. relative magnitudes of s It is to be noted that the length of the vector has no significance in reading wind direction. In practice a transparent screen having azimuthal markings inscribed thereon may be imposed over the screen of the cathode ray tube 28 thereby permitting direct reading.

In the telemetric system for a wind vane disclosed in Figure 1 it is necessary to provide motive power to operate the alternating current generator 18. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention depicted in Figure 3, telemetric means are provided for transmitting the reeter to a visual indicator remotely disposed therefrom. In this arrangement, the anemometer in addition to measuring the wind speed motivates deflection terminals 42 through a two wire line 43. A transparent screen 44 is superimposed over the screen of a cathode ray tube which is inscribed with radial lines marked in terms of azimuth and equally spaced concentric lines calibrated in terms of wind speed. When the trace 45 appears on the screenof the oscilloscope, the' angular position of the trace gives the wind direction and the magnitude of the trace furnishes the wind speed.

The number of transmission lines connecting the goniometer 33 with oscillograph 4! may be reduced by making one wire of line 39 common with one of line 43.

While there has been described what is at present considered preferred embodiments of the invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the in vention, and it is, therefore, aimed in the appended claims; to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. In a telemetric system for indicating the angular position of a movable object, the combination comprising a goniometer having a rotor wind vane and a rotationanemomloop and a pair of mutually perpendicular stator loops concentric therewith, means for orienting the said rotor loop in accordance with the angular position of the object, a source of unipolarity pulses connected to said rotor loop, and mean: for comparing the relative magnitudes and p0 larity of the pulseenergy induced in said state: loops.

2. In a telemetric system for indicating th angular position of an object, the combinatiol comprising a goniometer having a rotor loop am a. pair of mutually perpendicular stator loops con centric therewith, means for varying the positiol whose amplitude and frequency a of said rotor loop in. accordance with the angular position of the object, a source of unipolarity energy pulses connected to said rotor loop, and a cathode ray indicator having its vertical deflection means in association with one of said stator loops and its horizontal deflection means in association with the other said stator loops whereby the angular position of the line trace produced on the screen thereof corresponds with the position of said rotor loop in respect to said stators.

3. In a telemetric system for indicating the angular position of a wind vane, the combination comprising a goniometer having a rotor loop and a pair of mutually perpendicular st: tor loops concentric therewith, means for orienting said rotor loop in accordance with the angular position of the wind vane, an alternating current generator associated with said rotor loop, a half-wave rectifier interposed between said generator and said rotor loop, a cathode ray indicator having its vertical deflection means in association with one of said stator loops and its horizontaldeflection means in association with the other of said stator loops whereby the angular position of the line trace produced on the screen thereof corresponds with the position of said rotor loop in respect to said stator loops.

4. In a telemetric system for simultaneously,

indicating the angular position of a wind vane and the angular speed of a rotation anemometer, the combination comprising a goniometer having a rotor loop and a pair of mutually perpendicular stator loops concentric therewith, means for orienting the position of said rotor loop in accordance with the angular position of the wind vane, an alternating current generator connected to said rotor 100p, means .for mechanically motivating said generator at a speed in accordance with the anemometer, a half-wave rectifier interposed between said generator and said rotor loop, and a cathode ray indicator having its vertical deflection means in association with one of said stator loops and its horizontal deflection means in association with the other of said stator loops whereby the angular position of the trace produced on the screen thereof corresponds with the position of the wind vane and the length of said trace is proportional to the speed of the anemometer,

LEON HILIMAN'. 

